gabyniko

STEP BY STEP - "Squid Game" Sketchbook Page 🦑

Added 2021-10-07 09:42:07 +0000 UTC

Hi my wonderful Patrons!

We're starting this month's content with a Step By Step of my sketches inspired by the amazing "Squid game". If you haven't watched this series yet, I highly recommend it! I liked everything there - the idea, script, dialogues, brilliant casting, background of the characters, simplicity of the story, scenography and the darkness illuminated with hope. It was fascinating and I hope to see more 🦑

For now I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the characters, so I created some studies of their portraits ✍🏼 Here's the Step By Step:

1. MATERIALS

Arteza Sketchbook - A4 size. It's the same sketchbook I used in my Domestika course. I like it because it has thick paper with pleasant texture. It's not great if you wanna erase something many times because it gets smudgy but pencil is more visible on it than on more smooth papers. It has good size if you wanna create few studies on one page.
Regular, graphite pencils: HB (from Faber Castell) and 4B (KOH-I-NOOR). I used HB for the first sketches and 4B at the end - for much darker, more black values.
Pentel Graphgear 1000, 0.5mm - mechanical pencil with 2B lead. I used it for fine lines and details.
Tombow MONO zero refillable eraser pen. Used it to erase details.
Kneadable eraser - Faber-Castell. I used it to clean sketches from messy lines and make them lighter.
Graphite dust from my pencil sharpener. I used these small pieces of graphite to draw dark hair. I did it with my finger 👌
Paper stump - I used it to smudge some details of hair (sharper edges) with the graphite dust.

2. REFERENCES

I collected some photos and then picked my favorites to arrange them into vertical rectangular - to be sure they'll fit the sketchbook page.

3. INITIAL SKETCHES

I made first, light sketches. I did not keep the likeness of the characters here because at this stage it is not particularly important to me. I just wanted to put them on the paper in the more or less, right places (not too far from each other or to close to the edges of the paper). I used an HB pencil.

4. THINKING WITH SIMPLE SHAPES

Do you see this heart on the Kang Sae-byeok lips? <3

Initially, I always try to think with simple shapes - ovals, rectangulars or trapezoids. At the same time, of course, I compare the sizes - mouth to nose, nose to eyes, eyes to face width, etc. If I'm seraching for too long, the sketch becomes a bit messy, so I use kneadable eraser to make it cleaner and lighter.

5. MECHANICAL PENCIL

After the initial sketches and cleaning them, if I see that they are ok, I start using a more precise tool - a mechanical pencil. It helps me add more accurate lines and details. It is also good for hatching. Although in these sketches, I prefered to hatch with the HB pencil, to not make the features too strong and dark. I wasn't sure about the sketch on the left (coudn't find the likeness for a long time) but I enjoyed the one on the right :)

6. SEARCHING FOR LIKENESS

In order to find the similarity, I focused mainly on the most characteristic features of the face. In the case of Ji Yeong, I could see these are: hairstyle, eyes, a very specific shape of the lips, and the shape of the chin. I used the thin eraser to create details - it's not easy on such small sketch :) I'm not great with drawing lips and these characters have very specific shapes of these features so it was even more difficult to find their likeness.

7. DARK HAIR

Finally, I realized that my usual way of drawing hair doesn't make sense here. These girls have black hair in contrast to the fair complexion and I wanted to show this contrast. So I picked up the graphite from the sharpener and smeared it with my fingertip. I only left a few places for light. With a paper blender, I corrected the shapes made with my chubby fingers. Finally, I improved the details with a 4B pencil, a mechanical pencil and a thin eraser.